Saginaw County Board of Commissioners districts will merge to 11, forcing choices to run or not run against incumbents in 2012 elections

SAGINAW — Nearly four decades after the number of representatives on the Saginaw County Board of Commissioners dropped to 15 from 21, it’s about to drop again, to 11 members.

In a once-a-decade redistricting, the County Apportionment Commission of four Democrats and one Republican voted 4-1 Friday to chop the number of county commissioner districts starting with the 2012 elections.

The redrawing of the political boundaries will pit Chairman Michael P. O’Hare, D-Chesaning, against Commissioner Ron Sholtz, R- Marion Township, if both men choose to campaign for reelection and win their party primaries. And more incumbent commissioner showdowns are likely.

Saginaw County Democratic Party Chairwoman Garnet Lewis, also an
Apportionment Commission member, said both sides of the aisle could face
members of their own party or the opposing party if they choose to run
again in 2012. Among them: Democrats Eddie F. Foxx of Bridgeport
Township could face Cheryl M. Hadsall of Birch Run, and Carl E. Ruth
might compete against Bregitte K. Braddock, both of Saginaw, Lewis said.

Even if it means he has to face off against a colleague, Sholtz said the Apportionment Commission was right to cut the number of districts because the county has lost residents since 2000. The U.S. Census tallied 200,169 residents last year, a 4.9 percent drop versus the population count a decade earlier.

Sholtz said he expects to run in 2012.

“Mike’s got a lot of support, and he’d be a very tough candidate,” said Sholtz, 64, a retired autoworker like O’Hare. “It’d be a very tough race if we both decided to run.”

The Saginaw News could not immediately reach O’Hare for comment.

County Clerk Susan S. Kaltenbach, D-Saginaw Township and chairwoman of the Apportionment Commission, will outline the “road by road” boundaries of the new districts before she submits the plan to the Michigan Secretary of State and the U.S. Department of Justice for review. The Justice Department will evaluate if the plan allows for adequate minority representation. A registered voter who objects to the redistricting has 30 days to appeal to the state Court of Appeals.

Other Apportionment Commission members, Lewis, Prosecutor Michael D. Thomas, D-Tittabawassee Township, voted along with County Treasurer Marv Hare for his plan without debate among the commission.

“I want to be fair about it, and I think it’s fair,” said Hare, D-Saginaw Township.

County Republican Party Chairwoman Helene Wiltse stood alone in voting against the plan.

“I thought maybe it should be a tad lower, but I knew it would never pass because I’m only one vote,” she said.

Wiltse called for votes on a Republican-proposed five-member commission and later a nine-member commission, but none of the Democrats supported either to bring them to a vote.

Hare’s 11-district plan has two minority/majority districts — in which minorities comprise the majority of the population — compared to three today, he said. Voters elected four minority commissioners to this two-year term.

Commissioner Brigette K. Braddock, who as O’Hare’s predecessor served as the first black chairwoman of the county board, said she has not seen the final redistricting plan and withheld comment.

“I want to see how they’re doing that,” said Braddock, D-Saginaw and Buena Vista Township’s professional manager. “I don’t know that minorities are decreasing in population.”An 11-member district follows a size that other counties have chosen, however, she said.

“I’m not really happy about it, but in looking at the population in comparison to other counties, it seems right in line,” Braddock said.

Hare said many minorities have moved to communities from Saginaw and Buena Vista Township to other parts of the county. He noted as the city lost population, the new commissioner districts reached further into neighboring communities.

Lewis said it’s possible a minority commissioner could represent any one of the new districts.

“That’s a great thing about democracy and elections,” she said.

Thomas has said the commission intended to keep minority representation on the board because it’s “the right thing to do” and a federally mandated responsibility.

Each district was calculated to have a median average of 18,018 residents. Today, each commissioner represents 14,002 residents.

The Apportionment Commission had voted on Hare’s plan May 13 but turned it down in a 3-2 ballot then to have more time to study alternatives, members said.

Commissioner Ann M. Doyle, R-Tittabawassee Township, was the only commissioner who attended the apportionment meeting Friday. She disagreed with the choice because she said it “chopped up” townships.

Some panel members wanted fewer commissioners to save money after a decade of millions of dollars in budget cuts and the elimination of 125 positions.

Taxpayers paid nearly $400,000 to commissioners in pay and benefits in 2009. The elimination of all fringe benefits in the next term and fewer commissioners will bring base wages to roughly $125,000, combined.

The last time the county eliminated commissioner districts coincided with the 1972 election when 15 districts merged from 21. Until 1969, the county has a 55-member Board of Supervisors, records show.